Nico di Angelo and the Goblet of Fire
by MissSwissish
Summary: Nico made it out of Tartarus, helped defeat Gaea, and true to his word he's avoiding all other demigods. Now the Triwizard Tournament is at Hogwarts, and Percy and the Hecate cabin have managed to find a way to come and watch. With foreign students everywhere and a paranoid ex-auror for a teacher, Nico finds maintaining his exile and his cover more challenging than he thought.
1. Chapter 1

**I'd like to thank Ace1412 and Sergeant Meow, who PMed me and basically kick started this fic. I do hope it lives up to expectations.**

**If anyone has worries that I would fall for the obvious cliché here and ruin the story, please read this chapter before clicking away!**

* * *

**Some of the interactions between Potter-verse are quoted from the books.**

**I'm making a few of assumptions for Blood of Olympus, and there are possible spoilers House of Hades.**

**On with the story!**

* * *

**Nico di Angelo and the Goblet of Fire**

Returning to Hogwarts for the fourth time was surreal.

Everything and nothing had changed.

If Nico was perfectly frank, returning to Hogwarts, after the War and everything he'd been through, was a chore.

But where better to avoid Percy, Hazel and the rest than at a school of magic that they couldn't attend?

He wasn't interested in a confrontation with his cousin or his sister. He had told them it was finished. He was done.

Of course, the fact that everyone would know he was at Hogwarts was another reason not to come back, but if it guaranteed they couldn't reach him then fine.

And the Hunt had no reason to track him down, so Thalia would leave him alone too.

He was a man of his word. He had a quest, and magic was great at hiding things (Diagon Alley in the heart of London being just one example…) so he'd be protected from any demigods trying to contact him for whatever reason.

He had tried, he really had. He'd tried so hard to deny that his feelings for Percy were anything other than brotherly affection (he'd even convinced himself for a while), and had ended up humiliated in front of _the Son of Jupiter _of all people. He'd tried to broker a peace between the camps, but he'd only made things worse until Reyna had finally got Octavian and Clarisse to back down. At least Rachel hadn't stooped to calling him a traitor, and was still talking to him.

_You only know what you have when you lose it._

He hadn't noticed how attached he'd come to the camp and the people in it. It was as like a second home – although, since he hadn't been back to his father's palace since before the business with Gaea started, it was like his _only_ home – and he'd gotten used to having somewhere he could just rock up without awkward questions and have a roof, food and clean clothes. Being able to practise sword fighting, skeleton summoning and umbra-kinesis was another bonus.

He got on the train in a sort of haze that separated him from everyone else. It was like he was enclosed in an invisible, impenetrable glass box, where no one could hear or see him. They were completely separate from him, _other_. He could never reach them, just as they could never reach him.

_He was alone. And it was crushing him._

He didn't really register anything above the mechanics of not walking into people. At the same time he was hyper-aware of everything around him. Every noise was like the clang of swords, the hisses of dracaena, or the rushing of water.

And the moment was gone. The Weasley twins apologized lightly for bumping into him, before turning to crack a joke with another Gryffindor.

Nico kept utterly still for a moment, grasping desperately for some semblance of self-control.

_He was fine, it was over._

The train ride was long. He had found an empty carriage right at the back of the train, and sat staring unseeingly at the familiar landscape.

He was so tired. He'd give anything for a decent night's sleep. He pressed his face against the cool glass and closed his eyes.

The Resurrection Stone, Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's Locket, Harry's scar.

He didn't know how many more.

He had destroyed two Horcruxes already, but it seemed he was only moving further and further away from his goal.

He had mixed feelings when Blaise, Daphne and Tracy found him, about halfway through the voyage. They seemed to linger outside before coming in, apparently having a fierce debate and motioning at him. This lasted for ten minutes or so, before they eventually came in and sat down. Nico barely acknowledged them, and Daphne started an (obviously forced) cheery account about what she'd done over the summer.

"Dumbledore said you had had an accident and had left school early, but you never went to Saint Mungo's, I checked." Observed Blaise when Nott had finished regaling them of the Quidditch World Cup, and Nico still hadn't spoken. "Black escaped that night, so there were quite a lot of rumours that he'd killed you, if the werewolf Lupin hadn't bitten you first."

There was a pregnant pause. Nico glared at the Italian until the other boy flinched and lent back with his arms up in surrender.

"Well obviously the rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated." Tracy Davis sniggered. "If you must know, I got into an altercation with Granger and Potter. The Headmaster sent them off on some errand, and they dragged me into their mess."

Blaise nodded.

"They did seem overly distraught."

Nico rolled his eyes.

"It's nice to know they care."

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." Daphne remarked primly.

"Sarcasm keeps me from telling people what I really think of them." Nico returned. The compartment laughed, and despite himself, Nico felt his spirits lift.

* * *

Granger looked like she was about to be sick when she saw him enter the Great Hall. Harry looked like someone had punched him, but that he hadn't really realized it yet.

Nico shoved past them when they loudly and forcefully demanded to talk to him. For Hades' sake, they'd accused him of being Voldemort's son, just because he dumped them after the Polyjuice fiasco of two, no _three_, years ago – which was _Granger's_ fault.

He had known for a while that they'd been sniffing around, wanting to uncover his secrets. They had no right. It had come too close in the Shack. For a few heart stopping minutes, he'd thought he'd blown it. Now he was more determined than ever to stay hidden. Telling Blaise had been a mistake.

_He was better off alone._

As they sat down, Blaise tried to draw the reticent Son of Hades into conversation, but Dumbledore stood up to announce the 'Triwizard Tournament', and that delegations from foreign schools would be arriving to participate. Nico didn't like the sound of that. A group of strange new students meant possible infiltration by monsters, and to a lesser extent, demigods. An international tournament also meant heightened security; any funny business would be dealt with harshly by either the police, or the press.

Nico didn't really listen to the rules, but in the end didn't need to. The loud protests (_mocking taunts_) reverberated around the Great Hall (_never-ending abyss_). It felt like the whole school resented the age limit. In the end, the demigod didn't care one way or the other, as he had no intention of being anywhere near any of the tasks. In fact, he was more than likely to be using the distraction to search for Horcruxes. He had a vague plan of conducting raids on suspected Death Eaters to see if they held any clues. If he knew where the Ministry of Magic was, he might try searching there. It wouldn't take long to determine if they held one or not.

At the moment he had no leads. Apart from Potter's scar, he had no idea where any of the Horcruxes were.

_This quest is impossible._

* * *

_He was in Tartarus, and the monsters had caught up. They were laughing at him, gloating at his weakness. He felt Dr Thorn come up behind him and he bit down hard to keep himself from crying out._

Nico woke up gasping. Panting, he tried to calm his ragged breathing and his racing heart. He closed his eyes, only to find the images he'd just escaped from seared into the back of his eyelids.

Flailing frantically, Nico retched over the side of his four poster bed, the acidic bile burning his throat. He'd give anything to have the disorientating, prophetic, information-laden demigod dreams. At least those were useful, and actually gave him some rest. These nightmares haunted him to such extent that he dreaded falling asleep.

He wanted to escape, but the memories followed him everywhere.

* * *

School was dull. There was no other word for it.

The days _dragged_. Every minute felt like an hour.

He'd already learnt _Accio_. He could perform it years ago.

Flitwick had been reluctantly impressed when he had asked Nico to perform the spell after noticing his inattention. He'd still assigned him detention, but did reinstate the points he docked when Nico proved that he could demonstrate both _Accio_, and it's opposite, the Banishing Charm.

"So you're a Charms prodigy now?" Daphne teased as they left.

"Did some research, came across it and gave it a go. Had a laugh banishing cushions at my cousin's face when he wouldn't shut up." Nico invented.

"You have a cousin?"

"…Yeah. Don't you?" he snarked.

Blaise gave him an unimpressed look.

"You never tell us anything about your family." Tracy pointed out. Nico felt an unexplainable surge of anger.

"Well, all my closest relatives are dead, or did you miss Malfoy's jibes about that?"

The girl reared back, hurt, but Nico couldn't find it in himself to care.

* * *

Nico had come to dread Defence against the Dark Arts. Professor Moody's eye followed him everywhere, and the teacher himself delighted in putting everyone on edge.

The first time he yelled 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE', he'd been directly behind them and Nico had shot off a curse in alarm. The teacher had retaliated by disarming, freezing and binding him, before seemingly coming to his senses. Then he gave a lecture about being always on guard and not acting rashly, though he complemented Nico on his quick draw and aim.

The demigod didn't see it that way, though in all honesty, he was lucky he had been holding his wand and couldn't easily draw his sword, or there would have been a lot of awkward questions asked.

The lecture on the Unforgiveables was informative of the power of magic. The idea that someone could take control and manipulate him like a puppet had Nico truly scared. Pain he could deal with, as nothing could compare to the soul-deep agony of Tartarus. Death he saw as a release. He was guaranteed Elysium; he had nothing to fear from Thanantos.

When Moody announced that he would be casting the Imperius curse on each of them, Nico was seriously asking if the gods had cursed him. Surely Tyche owed him a little slack?

Nico watched each and every person fall under the spell of the curse. He was reluctantly impressed that the tricks asked were embarrassing, but nobody's was any more humiliating than the others.

When it was finally his turn, Nico braced himself for something very unpleasant.

He felt slightly wrong-footed when a feeling of complete calm and serenity settled upon him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so content and at peace.

_Kneel before me._

Nico wanted to obey, and could feel his limbs starting to move. He would do anything to keep the voice happy, and continue to feel equanimity and poise.

_Kneel before me._

He jerked to a halt. He couldn't move further down. The previous feelings of harmony became disjointed when he began to panic at his loss of motor control.

_Kneel before me._

_No, he wouldn't. He didn't kneel to anyone except his father. What was this voice anyway? Why should he listen? He didn't want to. He wouldn't._

_KNEEL!_

"Get outta my head!" Nico shrieked, clutching his ears and, ironically, falling to his knees.

Nico didn't find any comfort in the fact that Harry also resisted the curse when the two were put through their paces over and over again.

He felt like a freak, but he wouldn't give Moody the satisfaction of seeing him succumb.

It had been a close thing, but the Defence teacher had made a fatal error when casting the Imperius the first time.

Nico had sworn on the Styx to only ever kneel in deference to his father.

The demigod had no illusions that if the professor had asked him for anything else, he wouldn't have thought twice. Indeed, he hadn't the first time. It had been the imminent infraction of his oath that had jolted him out of the trance.

* * *

He buried himself in Prophet editions from the seventies. He perused every edition and noted every name that even hinted at Dark, or anti-muggleborn, sympathies. He cross referenced them all with trials, the people that were convicted were circled. The ones that got off had an asterisk; very few were crossed out (like Sirius Black).

His every free moment was spent in this manner, sifting and filtering information.

The completed list had over two hundred names and had taken him a month of single-minded devotion, bordering on obsession.

Nico didn't mind.

_When he was busy, he didn't __remember__._

* * *

The student body was lead out of the Great Hall at twilight, the day the foreign students were supposed to arrive.

There were many rumours about how they would get to Hogwarts, but all were shot down by friends and upper-years who knew more about the school's protections.

Nico wondered why nobody thought they'd be taking the Hogwarts express. Why overcomplicate everything? The Express brought the entire student body every year, why couldn't it manage forty odd exchange students?

"Look there!"

"What is it?"

"A dragon!" Someone suggested.

"A flying house!" A shrill voice piped up.

It was none of these, as a giant carriage drawn by a dozen flying horses landed on the soft turf in front of the school.

A very tall lady stepped out, helped by a boy who was obviously a student.

She made a beeline for the Headmaster.

Nico shifted closer to hear what was being said. Many students had started chatting to each other excitedly, wondering how Durmstrang would arrive.

"My steeds require - er - forceful 'andling," said Madame Maxime, looking as though she doubted whether any Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures teacher could be up to the job. "Zey are very strong. . . ."

Dumbledore was prevented from replying by a loud resonating note. Nico froze. He recognized that sound.

_The sound rang out as he and Reyna came into view of the camp. Everyone came running. Some were shouting and pointing, their faces condemning._

Some of the students screamed.

A giant Greek trireme was hovering directly above the castle. The conch shell sounded a second time. Nico could see people clad in orange and purple leaning over the side of the ship, before disappearing back on deck.

The ship sank steadily lower, until it hovered just above the ground.

"Thank you for flying Air Valdez, please remember not to take off your seatbelts until the fasten seatbelt sign has been switched off!"

"Leo!"

"What?"

A ladder was tossed over the side of the ship, and about twenty or so people disembarked. Nico recognized Morgana, Lou Ellen, and a couple of others from Hecate Cabin, as well as Rachel and most of the Seven, though Hazel and Frank were absent. Mercifully, Octavian didn't seem to have come either. The others were all in purple, so Nico wasn't surprised when he didn't recognize them.

A familiar dark haired boy wearing an orange T-shirt, khaki shorts and sandals stood forward and held out his hand to be shaken. Around his neck, Nico could see Camp Half-Blood's trademark bead necklace.

"Percy Jackson, _Cheiron gymnasia tis mageías_, and with me, the _Iovem castra magiae_, we're here to observe the, uh, Triwizard Tournament?"

Dumbledore and the other adults were looking at the group of demigods in shock.

Nico could hardly believe it.

Perseus Jackson, at Hogwarts.

Of all the rotten luck.

He'd come back to Hogwarts because his cousin wouldn't be able to follow him, and despite this, Percy had managed to do just that.

Nico found it hard not to admire his crush too openly. And he wasn't the only one. With a sleek swimmer's body, lean muscles and swirling sea-green eyes, many of the Hogwarts students were eyeing Percy appreciatively too.

"You are expecting us?" Percy asked, his hand lowering slightly, and his smile turning down.

"Ahem, no, we weren't. Things seem to slip in my old age. You're here for the Tournament?"

"Yes, I've er, got something… somewhere…"

Percy began patting his pockets, then began to search more intensely when he couldn't find what he was looking for.

"I don't care what they're doing here; anyone with a body like _that_ can stay, especially with me." Lavender Brown swooned.

The Son of Hades rolled his eyes.

Annabeth came forward and cuffed him over the head.

"Seaweed Brain." She plucked a crumpled piece of paper from his left pocket.

Percy grinned sheepishly, and rubbed the back of his head where she'd hit him.

"Wise Girl." He retorted, fondly.

Nico heard Lavender curse the blond for taking 'the hottest guy, in like forever' off the market.

Annabeth smoothed the paper out and began to read.

"According to the official rules, to underpin the Triwizard tournament's ultimate goal of 'International Magical Cooperation', the ranking fourth and fifth European schools of magic may come and experience the others' teaching, and help marshal and steward the tasks."

She folded the sheet neatly, and continued.

"It seems we are the ranking fourth and fifth schools," Nico raised an eyebrow. Camp Half-Blood had moved to the US four centuries ago. "So here we are."

"Indeed. In that case, you must come in. Welcome. Welcome to Hogwarts!"

Percy nodded, and Jason called out to the rest of the demigods, who divided up. The ones from Hecate cabin as well as most of the Romans moved off in a group, while the ones left climbed back onto the ship and began unloading.

A burst of flame came from where the Hecate cabin had moved to, and Nico could hear clapping and murmurs of appreciation. Craning his head, he could just make out the outline of a Roman-style Barracks surrounded by buildings that Nico knew all too well.

There was a commotion by the lake, and many Hogwarts students rushed to look, allowing Nico a clearer view of what was going on.

"Percy!" Lou Ellen called.

The Son of Poseidon jogged over.

"We had a bit of trouble determining how much of Camp Half-Blood we needed to replicate from this side of the Atlantic, so instead of constructing one cabin, we, uh, did the entire area."

"Oh, okay. That's fine. Make sure to make a hearth in honour of Hestia!"

Lou Ellen nodded, and with a snap of her fingers, a small ring of stones appeared directly in front of the Roman building. With a flick of the wrist, a tepee of sticks was standing in the centre. Finishing with a flourish, the Daughter of Hecate swirled her arm in a spiral above the conjured wood, causing it to burst into flame. Nico thought he saw a flash of brown hair and warm eyes, but it was gone before he was sure he'd truly seen it.

The Hogwarts students, who had gradually come back over to see what was going on, began clapping again. Lou Ellen curtseyed, obviously loving the attention.

Nico melted back into the crowd and saw a gathering of students in red robes lined with fur. A lot of people were pointing at a man with a goatee, who was sneering.

"Didn't realize he was still at school…"

"…best seeker in the world…"

"Will he give me his autograph?"

"Me first!"

"Sooooo many hunks this year, it's going to be a-maz-ing!"

With a start, Nico realized that they were actually looking at the surly, duck-footed man standing next to the goatee.

Huh.

Nico didn't see the attraction.

Deciding he'd never understand females, he followed the crowd back to the castle.

* * *

Having seen the schools arrive, dinner in the Great Hall was buzzing with rumours of a 'Grand Entrance' where the visitors would put on a show.

Sure enough, when Dumbledore stood up and welcomed Beauxbatons, the doors were flung wide open, and a gymnast performed a running summersault. She was quickly followed by ten girls in formation shimmying into the hall, fluttering silk butterflies trailing in their wake. The boys escorted the Headmistress at the rear of the procession. The gymnast was obviously the main attraction and gave an impressive show.

They sat down primly at the Ravenclaw table, and it was obvious they didn't think much to their surroundings. They were shivering. Nico raised an eyebrow, disapproving. Clearly their silk robes did not preserve them from the cold.

Again, with Durmstrang, the doors burst open and a dozen imposing men marched in. Their wooden staffs sparked against the flagstone floor, and, as with Beauxbatons, a student broke away in a gymnastic routine. However, this time the finale consisted of blowing a fiery dragon out of a burning torch. They sat down at the Slytherin table, next to Malfoy and therefore very close to Nico.

The Greek and Roman camps, announced by Dumbledore as Chiron's gymnasia of magic and Jupiter's camp of magic respectively, entered together. They were in pairs, orange and purple, and Jason and Percy made the head of the line. It seemed that the Greeks at least were impressed by the castle, the Romans stayed stoic.

When the line had extended the length of the tables, all the lights went out.

There was a rumble of thunder, causing many in the Great Hall to scream. A figure stepped up and cracked his knuckles. He crouched down, before launching himself into the air, left arm outstretched.

A bolt of lightning was flung from his reaching fist, illuminating the ceiling and with a flash, the candles were relit and light was restored.

This received a thunderous applause from everyone in the hall (though Nico did note the sour looks on the foreign headmasters' faces, who felt they'd been shown up).

Percy clapped Jason on the back, and handed him an orange T-shirt. Jason laughed and chucked the other a purple one and they both put them on over their existing tops.

Nico heard Tracy groan quietly in disappointment.

The two finished by shaking hands and sitting at the Hufflepuff table, but not before Percy looked around the hall, his eyes locking onto Nico.

The other demigods sat down too, mostly at the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, as that's where the most space was. Despite the leader's obvious closeness, the orange and purple sat apart. Nico noticed Morgana sit next to Ron, before a Durmstrang student started talking loudly about the 'intruding' schools.

"They should not haff come, this is Tri-wizard tournament. Durmstrang, Hogwarts, Beauxbatons. That is all. No outsiders."

"They are here to learn from us, Poliakoff. I think this is good Magical Cooperation." The one who'd garnered all the attention at the Durmstrang arrival retorted.

Poliakoff sneered, and loudly rebuked the other in Russian. It would have degenerated into an argument, if Malfoy hadn't begun fawning over the second man, who Nico finally understood to be an international Quidditch star.

Poliakoff flipped him one last insult, before turning to his compatriots and sniggering. A sixth year then distracted them by asking about how Durmstrang was run, the courses (focusing on the fact the Institute taught the Dark Arts) and the fact no muggleborns were allowed in.

Nico could have been wrong, but he thought he saw a flash of resignation on the celebrity's face before he smoothly answered all of the blonde's insipid questions.

"Of course nothing can compare to flying a broomstick, surely you agree, Krum?"

"I haff travelled much using apparition, portkey and floo, and yes I much prefer brooms."

"But Malfoy, you haven't tried riding any flying magical creatures, so you can't be so sure. I say while brooms are very well and good for short trips, if you want comfort, carpets are much better. It was a pity when they were banned."

"Why would _I_ want to _ride_ a filthy _beast_?" Malfoy sputtered, indignant.

"Perhaps you shouldn't, given that you don't know not to insult Hippogriffs where they can hear you." Nico replied smartly. The Durmstrang students turned to look Malfoy heir with incredulity and derision.

"I wouldn't be so smug, di Angelo. You could barely get your broomstick off the ground before running away in terror, what would you know about flying?" Malfoy spat back.

"I've ridden a Thestral." Nico retorted, not exactly fibbing, as he had ridden one, just not _flown_. "And I quite enjoyed it. It was peaceful." He couldn't explain why he couldn't fly, but he wasn't about to take Malfoy's insults lying down.

The table hushed. Blaise coughed, obviously surprised that Nico would voluntarily share information.

There was a beat of silence.

"I thought you didn't take Care of Magical Creatures." Tracy asked finally.

"I don't."

"It is good point… di An-gel-o has made. I too like flying magical creatures, but I haff not ridden a Thestral."

"Only because you haff too much money and too much arrogance for studies." Poliakoff sneered.

"My grades are better than _yours_, Poliakoff!"

* * *

**I'd just like to say that no demigod will participate as champion, if anyone has any doubts.**

**What do you think then? Love it, hate it, s****till too cliché? How do you feel about Nico now, or Krum's ostracization from the other Durmstrang students?**

**Please review!**

**Swiss**


	2. Chapter 2

**Back again! So soon too, I'm on a roll…**

**Thanks ChrisDaughterofApollo, A-Fighterlady, and omega2199 for letting me know of an upload problem!**

**And a big thanks to those who favourited, followed, and of course the reviewers! I've replied to your kind words at the bottom of the page.**

* * *

"_I thought you didn't take Care of Magical Creatures." Tracy asked curiously._

"_I don't." Nico replied curtly._

"_It is good point… di An-gel-o has made. I too like riding magical creatures, though I haff not ridden a Thestral."_

"_Only because you haff too much money and too much arrogance for studies." Poliakoff sneered._

"_My grades are better than yours, Poliakoff!"_

* * *

Nico awoke with a start, clapping his hand over his mouth to keep from screaming. His chest was heaving, and his sheets were damp with cold sweat. He needed to look up silencing charms, he couldn't do this anymore. Blaise had woken him from five nightmares in the last two weeks, and the demigod wasn't sure he could keep his friend from interrogating him much longer.

He sighed, and contemplated his options. He couldn't stay here. He also couldn't leave; it was two in the morning and Snape had put up wards to catch people sneaking out after Nico was found consistently missing from his bed in first year (he'd only found out about it from Malfoy who'd been moaning at being treated like an infant).

There was another option.

His cabin was just across the lawn. If he could just…

If he could… just…

He hit his head against the pillow in irritation.

While he used to love shadow manipulation, in particular shadow travelling, he now felt a shiver of fear when he contemplated his favourite demigod power.

_You never know what's waiting for you on the other side._

He huffed. He'd managed to shadow travel many times without a problem, why couldn't he get over this? Steeling himself, and despite an irrational spike of anxiety, Nico sank into the darkness.

He reappeared in his bunk and tried to calm his breathing.

During waking hours, he could see his tormentors in the shadows – always the shadows, mocking him that he'd never feel safe where he'd always been strongest. He hadn't truly slept in months, and he was sure the insomnia had brought on hallucinations. If he could only _sleep_…

* * *

The impartial selector of the champions was revealed the next morning to be the Goblet of Fire. It was a large stone chalice on a plinth with glowing blue flames flickering as they burnt invisible fuel.

An age line was drawn around, and Nico saw many faces light up, including the Weasley Twins and Morgana. The daughter of Hecate was eyeing the line with speculation, and a twinkle of mischief in her eye. He was moved along quickly after that by professor McGonagall, but not before he saw the fifteen year old poke the line with her toe.

He sat down in History of Magic lost in thought. How did the Age line work? Would he be able to cross it? He was sixteen, but he'd been trapped in the Lotus Hotel and Casino for seventy years. Magic had a habit of not quite acting as it should around demigods.

* * *

Nico successfully avoided the demigods for two days. He knew Percy was trying to corner him; the Son of the Sea had never been very subtle. He wasn't interested in talking to his cousin. He didn't need a pity party. He didn't want to revisit his time in Tartarus, nor admit his feelings (which for some reason, Jason thought would be a good idea). His broken heart hadn't killed him yet, after all. Every time he saw a coloured T-shirt, he did an about face and went in the other direction. He'd had to avoid the Goblet a lot, as it seemed the Hecate cabin was staking it out. Lou Ellen, Morgana, or another orange clad demigod were always sitting there with a notebook, scribbling.

But he couldn't hide forever, in fact, he was cornered at breakfast, three days after the camps had arrived.

"So I'm invisible to you now? Nice, I've always wanted a superpower." Rachel said brightly.

Nico rolled his eyes. The Oracle took that as an invitation to sit down.

"You _know_ her?" Nott asked, incredulous.

"Funny, I remember you from somewhere." Tracy said. She was squinting at Rachel, thinking hard.

"Unfortunately." Nico told Theo.

Rachel stuck her tongue out, a large grin on her face. Nico smirked.

"I'm sitting with you from now on." She turned to the others, "We go back; when we first met, I threw a hairbrush in his grandfather's eye."

Daphne chocked on the pumpkin juice she'd been sipping.

"Good times." Nico deadpanned.

"Listen, Nico, I'm going to sit with you at every meal until you start talking. You might be trying to avoid everyone who cares about you, but that's not going to work with _me_."

"Watch." The Son of Hades stood up. Rachel seized his wrist.

"So I met your divination professor." The red head started again. Many of the Slytherins snorted. Nico faltered. He wanted to leave, but didn't trust Rachel around his friends.

"Did she predict your death?" Daphne sniffed, still annoyed at her loss of composure from earlier. Rachel frowned.

"She said Jason should be wary of falling off tall buildings, and that Percy would die by drowning."

Nico tried valiantly to disguise a laugh with a cough.

Tracy looked confused.

"How's that funny?"

Nico opened his mouth to reply, searching for a plausible answer but Rachel beat him to it.

"Jackson's part Selkie. He can breathe underwater."

"Is he? No way!"

"How do you know?" Tracy and Blaise asked simultaneously. Blaise's eyelid twitched, and he scowled at the girl.

"He told me." Nico shrugged, ignoring the many raised eyebrows. The other Slytherins had noticed his allergy to everything orange and purple.

"I'm fine." He pre-empted when Rachel opened her mouth again.

Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"I was going to ask if you wanted …"

"No." Nico interrupted. Rachel glared at him.

"…Hazel to come visit with Frank this weekend."

There was an awkward pause. Nico scowled at his hands.

"I swear, I've seen you somewhere before. Was she your girlfriend Nico, did you have a photo of her somewhere?" Tracy asked, exasperated.

The Son of Hades fled not long after that. He found himself outside the library, and decided to brainstorm possible Horcrux hideouts. He had a niggling feeling that he'd sensed one in Diagon Alley, but couldn't think where. The number of times he'd walked down that street, surely he should know for certain if there was a Horcrux there?

_Useless boy! Can't do anything right!_

Nico felt himself suddenly overwhelmed by shame and anger. He blinked and shook his head, trying to clear it.

What was _wrong_ with him?

"Excuse-me di An-gel-o, I vas vondering if you knew vhere the toilet vas?"

Nico turned around to see Viktor Krum standing looking decidedly lost. He blinked.

"Sure, second turn on the left."

Now the Bulgarian looked even more confused, but headed off in the direction indicated. Nico mentally shrugged and sat down at a free desk.

* * *

It seemed that the camps had managed to negotiate on behalf of the Hecate and Roman demigods, because they were now attending lessons.

So far, Nico had only seen Romans in classes; he'd spotted a dark haired boy sat at the back of the Runes class, another in Transfiguration and a girl with mousy brown hair was apparently helping 'that oaf' in Care of Magical Creatures.

That was until he saw Morgana sitting quietly at the front of Potions.

Her smile was decidedly shark-like when Nico realised that everyone had sat down, and he was the only one left without a partner.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Nico muttered without preamble.

"Same as all the other children of Hecate/Trivia; learning Magic."

Nico closed his eyes and counted to ten. He wasn't a patient person at the best of times, and the insomnia was only making things worse.

"I _know_ that. What are you doing _here_."

Morgana rolled her eyes.

"Professor Snape is the youngest _ever_ to achieve a mastery in Potions…" she lectured.

"Settle down." The aforementioned teacher intoned, sweeping into the room.

"…And I happen to be interested in developing a new potion in his area of expertise." She finished, lowering her voice.

Nico glared at the unhelpful girl. He rose to fetch the ingredients he would need, cursing her to the depths of Hades.

When he came back, he was confused to find a finished version of the day's potion already simmering in his cauldron. When he asked the daughter of Hecate what was going on, he finally got a straight answer.

"Well, I would hardly miss the opportunity to be taught by an expert in their field, right? And the others are the same. Now get over here and help me chop these Niffler livers."

Snape ignored the pair, despite them brewing a completely different potion right under his nose, and there was no way the greasy-haired man believed Nico had managed the set task in barely five minutes. Nico cynically thought that Morgana had timed her flattery so the professor would overhear every word.

"Why did you build so many cabins, but only one barracks?" Nico inquired, idly. He'd been wondering about it, and was getting uncomfortable sitting in silence. It was weird, normally he preferred quiet, but it seemed sitting so close to a demigod _at Hogwarts_ was playing with his ADHD.

Morgana looked at him, unimpressed.

"Roman barracks are identical everywhere; the cabins are unique. We didn't need a template when the Trivia legionnaires knew exactly how to build their quarters."

"Had any luck on your quest recently?" she returned, under her breath. She was staring at the bright green liquid with such intensity that Nico wondered if she thought the colour would change to crimson by sheer force of will.

"Not really." Nico muttered, surly. He watched the other demigod suspiciously. He had given her the Diadem, so she had no reason to ask him about that.

"You … did _destroy_ it, right? Properly?"

Nico felt his blood pressure increase as the girl stayed silent. He cursed, switching efficiently to Greek when Snape looked up.

"You're _kidding_ me." He spat through ground teeth. He looked away, his jaw muscles twitching.

"Can we talk about it some other time?" the girl snapped. The potion was now the correct colour, and she was frantically dropping flesh-eating slugs into the concoction.

"You were supposed to destroy it! I thought he killed your father!" Morgana's eyes widened in alarm, and she shrank away from the volatile Ghost King.

"He did! And I… I thought, with a piece of his soul…" She sounded both hopeful and desperate.

"You want to barter? With my father?" Nico asked, aghast.

"It's a fair exchange! One soul for another!"

"Part of a soul! Part! Not all! Do you want _part_ of your dad back? 'Cause that's all you'd get!" Nico snarled, practically spitting in the girl's face.

The quailing daughter of Hecate was saved from Nico's further displeasure by ringing chimes, signalling the end of lessons. Giving her one last 'I'll-kill-you-later' stare, Nico swept from the room, a familiar sense of betrayal in his gut, and jeers and taunts ringing in his ears.

_Traitor, betrayer, coward, spy, never friends with __you__, stupid, liar, war-monger, murderer, no-good-son-of-…, _

"di An-gel-o?"

Nico started. Pushing his increasingly turbulent emotions away, he turned to the Durmstrang boy and nodded a greeting.

"How may I help you Mr Krum?"

"You look upset." Nico's expression shuttered.

"Vould you like to sit vith me? I am good listener." The Bulgarian insisted.

"What would an internationally famous Quidditch star like _you_ want with _me_?" Nico sneered, defensive.

"Perhaps I vant to be friends." Krum raised an eyebrow. Nico looked at him, incredulous.

"Why?"

Krum made a noise of irritation.

"di An-gel-o, I haff just escaped from insipid girls vanting my autograph in lipstick, I vould appreciate intelligent company and you are the only one vho does not fall at my feet or scorn my fame."

"Is that what the other Durmstrang students do?" Nico lashed out. Krum looked at him sharply. "I saw them at the feast." Nico explained, calmer.

The other nodded, morose.

"I am not good at making friends. I study, hard. I get good grades; it is condition on my contract. I spend long time flying. The others resent my skill. Always I haff people want me for my fame, and they do not like when I cannot spend time vith them."

Nico scrunched his eyebrows.

"Your schoolmates or your fans?"

Krum gave him a look.

"Vhen I vas fourteen I became a league player. Suddenly I became very popular, and I did not haff any free time after study, so my friends did not stay friends."

"And I guess it got worse when you became a national player."

"Yes. I try many times to get my fans in school to go avay, but they don't listen and my classmates think I like the attenshun."

"So now you're hiding, with me."

"Yes. You have an aura that they find intimidating."

Nico smirked at that.

"Glad to be of service."

There was a pause.

"So, I haff explained my problems, vhat about you?"

Nico grimaced. He'd thought he'd managed to sidestep _that_ particular minefield.

"Let's just say too many betrayals and leave it at that."

* * *

The excitement in the air was palpable. The Great Hall was splitting at the seams. Everyone had come to the feast, and it looked like some were trying to get events to go faster by not eating as much as they normally would. Nico made his habitual offering into his flame-jar, while Rachel watched. He hadn't noticed the campers making offerings, but wasn't really interested enough to ask.

When dessert was finally cleared away, and Dumbledore stood up; all conversations ceased as they looked at the Goblet of Fire expectantly.

The Goblet's flame flared red and spat out a singed piece of parchment. It fluttered down, oblivious of the thousand eyes watching with baited breath.

"The champion for Beauxbatons, is Fleur Delacour!"

The hall was filled with cheers and applause for the French blonde, though some of her school rivals had burst into tears and were openly sobbing into each other's robes.

The girl disappeared into an antechamber behind the teacher's table.

The Goblet burned red again, causing an immediate hush.

Another parchment floated down from the flames.

"The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!"

More applause, though since Nico had talked to Krum he fancied he was the only one to notice that the other Durmstrang pupils were less than ecstatic for their famous schoolmate. Poliakoff in particular looked incensed.

When he followed Fleur out of the Great Hall, silence fell without prompting, waiting.

The entire world seemed to breathe in at once when the Goblet's fire went red for the final time.

Nothing moved except for the small, crumpled piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!"

The yellow and black table erupted. Nico fancied they'd burst a few eardrums with the noise they made. Cedric had to fight his way through his housemates, all set on congratulating him, clapping him on the shoulder, ruffling his hair, or shaking his hand. He finally made it to the front (looking very red, and very pleased), and followed the other champions.

Dumbledore turned to the other judges and began talking to them when the hall went silent again.

The Goblet had turned red again.

The silence this time wasn't one of edge-of-the-seat anticipation, but of stupefaction. Looks were shot at the campers, who themselves were looking dumbfounded. The parchment's leafy descent was brutally interrupted when Dumbledore snatched it out of the air. Nico saw Percy throw Rachel a glance, before Dumbledore read out the name on the fourth piece of parchment.

"Harry Potter"

An angry buzzing of whispers broke out. Nico paled, remembering… He shook his head and clenched his fists, determined to remain in the present.

The boy looked stunned. He didn't move. Every eye in the hall was trained on him, and he seemed to shrink from their condemning gazes. It took Dumbledore's prompting before the Gryffindor finally realized he was supposed to move to the front. He did so, stumbling slightly.

He hurried out of the Hall, followed by most of the Professors and the door slammed behind them.

Lou Ellen was whispering furiously with Percy, Jason and Annabeth. Their expressions were worried. The Sea Prince's face looked grim as he escorted the counsellor of the Hecate cabin through the champion's door.

With the excitement over for the evening, the hall began to empty. Most of the Beauxbatons students had escaped early; it seemed the cheering for the champions had been too much like salt in an open wound. The Durmstrang lot were moving to the doors, and Nico could hear Poliakoff muttering profanities in Russian as he passed.

He turned to Rachel, who, true to her word, had been stuck to him like glue at every meal. His eyes widened, words dying in his throat.

The Oracle had gone rigid in her seat. Nico stared at his friend in horror, feeling his stomach sink as the familiar green smoke billowed out of her mouth.

"A traitor slays the chosen child of earth

Through fire and water he shall prove his worth

Whose secret only the dead can know

Shall restore balance by vengeance's woe

When four become three and three become one

A new Dark reign has just begun"

He caught her automatically as she fainted. He looked around, feeling detached from his surroundings. The green fog had attracted everyone's attention, but only the Slytherin table and about half the Ravenclaws seemed to have heard anything, and most of it garbled. The Roman demigods were looking at Rachel in awe and respect, while the Greeks tried to shove their way through the crowd, concern shining on their faces. The whispers, which before had been malicious and spiteful, turned fearful as more and more twisted versions of the prophecy spread.

"Nico, what…"

Jerked out of his reverie, he swung the unconscious mortal up and carried her, bridal style, to find Percy.

He shouldered the wooden door open, followed immediately by the remaining members of the Seven. The other demigods wanted to follow, but one look at Annabeth's expression made them reconsider.

Everyone in the room turned to stare. Dumbledore was gripping a very pale Harry Potter by the shoulder; Lou Ellen and Percy were arguing with the official looking man in a corner, while the other headmasters were observing the scene with scowls of distain painted across their faces.

"She fainted." Nico supplied, the son of Poseidon already relieving him of his burden.

Snape bristled.

"Then you should have taken her to the hospital wing, you foolish boy, this meeting is…"

"She made a prophecy, what did she say?" Annabeth interrupted. Nico tried not to glare at the daughter of Athena. The potions professor's mouth snapped shut, but he looked disbelieving. Nico now had the undivided attention of everyone in the room.

The Son of Hades recited the Oracle's words verbatim, and Percy paled looking at Nico in sympathy.

"Styx." Leo broke the silence; only to jump out of his skin at the following clap of thunder.

The other demigods cracked a smile at his antics. Their faces quickly fell again and the adults were muttering amongst themselves.

"So we have a traitor to watch out for. Great." Percy sighed. "I'll call a council meeting in the morning. Theoi, Clarisse is going to go nuts."

"We should notify Reyna, Frank and Hazel, they need to know about this." Jason put in, and the other boy nodded.

"Thank you Mr di Angelo, you can go." Dumbledore told the demigod kindly. Nico hesitated. While this gave him the perfect opportunity to leave, and he didn't want to talk to the others, he did want to know their thoughts on the prophecy. He acquiesced, reluctantly.

"Won't Octavian have seen this in the auguries though?" asked Piper. The two boys shrugged.

"He might not tell them, he'll jump to conclusions and assume…" Percy caught himself, his eyes darting to the adults, who were closely following the conversation, and Nico lingering in the doorway. "…bad things." He finished lamely.

Nico shut the door.

* * *

**Wow, there's a prophecy! What do you think? What's your interpretation, what do you think of the setup? Not too cliché doing it in the great hall just after the champion selection? I've tried to make it misleading so don't assume everything is as it seems! ****The demigods (and Dumbledore) are going to have to do some serious damage control!**

******No changes in the champion line-up, I'm afraid, as I didn't want a demigod to do it (though I did consider Nico for a very long time).**

**Is Rachel in character? How was Krum's discussion with Nico? Will Nico finally talk to the other demigods?**

**Interestingly nobody commented on my take of Nico under the Imperius curse in the last chapter. (****I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.)**

**Please, please review!**

**Swiss**

* * *

**A-Fighterlady: Thank you! hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**obsessivegirl73: thanks! Nico's trying to avoid everyone since he swore he was finished in HoH. I wasn't going for self-esteem issues exactly, more like PTSD and depression. I overdid it slightly, its very hard to write!**

**Chris, A Hero of Olympus: Hope you enjoyed the Rachel/Nico and Morgana/Nico interaction. Unfortunately its more a case of Nico avoiding the demigods, not that they don't notice him!**

**omega2199: Writing Nico traumatized from his time in Tartarus is more challenging than I expected so I don't blame you for not knowing what's going on! Hope you liked the chapter!**

**Kerowyn6: Thank you! What did you think of Krum's side of the story? I will try and incorporate some suck ups, but it didn't really fit in this chapter!**

**Urgh111: Thank you!**

**pipermcdiva: Thanks! I didn't realize the narration was so choppy, I've tried to do better this time. I'm trying to portray Nico as traumatized and depressed from tartarus and what followed. I think i overdid it in the first chapter, let me know what you thought of this one!**

**Emilie: Hope this answers your question, but I wasn't really going to concentrate on demigods in classes. Glad you liked the story and hope the chapter lived up to expectations!**

**AngelicDarkness: Thanks, the goblet story has been done so many times, the clichés are like a minefield! Not even the mist would be able to hide the fact the triwizard was for 3 competitors, bad enough to get 4! I did seriously consider Nico taking part, but decided against it in the end. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

******Guest: Thank you!**

**Matt: Thanks for reviewing! It's true Nico probably shouldn't have gone back, but he has a quest to complete and thought the other demigods wouldn't follow as they hadn't before (apart from thalia, and the hunt who don't really count). Hope you like the chapter, and I'll keep your suggestion on board!**

**wisegirl II: Thank you, hope you like the chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I know some people are frustrated at my slow update, but I was waiting for BoO to come out and see how Rick finished the story.**

**A big thanks to everyone who fav/followed, and replies to your wonderful reviews are, as always, at the bottom of the page!**

**On with the chapter!**

* * *

"_Thank you Mr di Angelo, you can go." Dumbledore told the demigod kindly. Nico hesitated. While this gave him the perfect opportunity to leave, and he didn't want to talk to the others, he did want to know their thoughts on the prophecy. He acquiesced, reluctantly._

"_Won't Octavian have seen this in the auguries though?" asked Piper. The two boys shrugged._

"_He might not tell them, he'll jump to conclusions and assume…" Percy caught himself, his eyes darting to the adults, who were closely following the conversation, and Nico lingering in the doorway. "…bad things." He finished lamely._

_Nico shut the door._

* * *

Despite Nico's best efforts at being frosty and unpleasant, he and Morgana fell into a routine during potions. She was understandably contrite after what she'd inadvertently revealed in the last lesson, and agreed to keep him up to date on what the camps were up to. They didn't bring up the diadem, aside from Nico demanding she let him watch when it was destroyed.

It was the second week of November and they were making another version of the potion. Nico couldn't really tell the difference between each version of the foul smelling sludge, but Morgana insisted each time that it was not quite right.

She wouldn't tell him what exactly the potion was for, but Nico couldn't help but hope it was some form of acid bath for the thrice cursed tiara.

"Excuse me, Professor, I've been asked to escort Harry Potter to something called the 'Weighing of the Wands' ceremony."

Both demigods whirled around. Percy Jackson was leaning against the doorframe. Morgana let out a strangled giggle. The Sea Prince remained oblivious, looking at the Professor with a laid-back half-smile.

"Mr Potter is currently in class."

"Oh, that's ok, I'll just hang here until he's finished." Percy replied, withstanding the teacher's icy glare, and nonchalantly shoving his hands in his pockets.

There was a moment of utter silence. The students waited with baited breath to see the feared Potion's master's reaction.

"POTTER! Pack your things and go!"

The Gryffindor jumped to comply, hastily shoving his books and parchment into his bag. In his hurry, he tripped backwards over a sneakily placed stool and up-ended Morgana's cauldron.

Nico lunged, but it was too late. The daughter of Hecate yelped as the scalding liquid seeped through the front of her clothes, while the Ghost King reeled backwards, his forearms red beneath the burning goop. Some of the other students had been spattered, and the sleeve of Potter's robe was soaked.

"Does this …whatever this is, work on skin contact?" Nico bit out, his teeth clenched. Snape made a sweeping motion with his wand and most of the slime vanished.

"It would if it was, ah! …Finished!" Morgana replied, her voice strained. "There might be a few, side effects, but…nothing dangerous."

Nico had been about to bite out a sarcastic retort, but bit his tongue.

"Those that were splashed, make your way to the Hospital wing immediately. POTTER! Detention, Saturday, with me. The rest of you, OUT!"

* * *

Nico and Morgana were the only two who had come into close contact with the potion long enough to stay for 'observation'.

It had barely been ten minutes and the son of Hades was ready to climb the walls in agitation.

_He was trapped. Hospital Wing, Camp Infirmary, Psych ward, Lotus Hotel, what was the difference? They all said it was 'for his own good' or that 'they were only trying to help'. Ha. He'd stopped believing that rubbish after Minos. Trusting just invited betrayal._

With nothing to do, and completely alone besides Madam Pomfrey (who stayed mostly in her office), the two demigods talked.

Morgana explained that the 'magic demigods' had a rota for who went to which class and when. Their actual skill level varied depending on how long they'd been at camp (and if they'd enrolled at Salem or somewhere similar), but for appearance's sake, they had decided to spend each day concentrating on a different subject. This avoided any questions about their abnormal skill and guaranteed that the demigods wouldn't be bored. It would be suspicious if a twelve year old demigod attended only NEWT Defence classes and could beat the wizard students without breaking sweat.

She also told him why the Hecate cabin had been so interested in the Goblet, and thus why Percy and Lou had been arguing with Barty Crouch, the official that Nico had seen in the champion's chamber. Besides the fact that Percy wanted a demigod competitor to take Potter's place (as that way the camps actually had something to _do_), it turned out the Hecate cabin had inadvertently found proof that Harry _hadn't_ put his name in the Goblet.

"We were curious about how the age line worked. I mean, what would happen if a hundred year old/eight year old hunter tried to cross?"

Nico nodded, he'd wondered about that too.

"So we set up our own wards. This one was more a …diagnostic. It recorded the date of birth of anyone who stepped over and the name they entered. We tried other spells to see what we could find, but that ward was the only one set up the entire time."

Nico whistled.

"And Potter's name wasn't matched to his date of birth?"

"Nope. Whoever put Potter's name in is thirty-three years old."

"And an ageing potion …"

"Doesn't change your date of birth, and the culprit was born in '62. Besides, the Weasley Twins tried that and their names weren't accepted. Percy and Lou Ellen were trying to revoke Potter's selection, and get someone official to act on the information, or at least give us permission to investigate instead." Morgana laughed bitterly. "When Lou admitted adding a ward, they came close to accusing us of sabotage and interfering with both the Line and the Goblet's magical contract. As if we would be that stupid."

"But they didn't accuse you outright?"

"No, we reckon they didn't want the bad press; Imagine, a bunch of kids from an _inferior _school managed to nullify Headmaster Dumbledore's age restriction."

"But surely they were interested in what you discovered?"

Hecate's daughter shook her head.

"If you've checked everyone in the castle, and none of the birthdays match; what about asking someone who looks younger than they are?"

"A youth potion? That's a myth, and anyone who has access to more… divine ways of looking younger wouldn't target _Potter_."

"There are other ways of concealing your identity."

"Sure, a Glamour or Polyjuice, but they would have had to have been undercover the entire time, someone would have noticed…"

They stopped speaking for a while, each ruminating on the obvious problem that someone _was_ masquerading as a different person.

"HELP! Someone! Anyone!" yelled a voice, causing the two magic demigods to jump.

Three bedraggled looking preteens appeared in the room, two boys and one girl. One boy looked tough and intimidating, while the second was thin and reedy. The girl was tiny and imp-like. Their images were distorted; not like the picture in an Iris message, but more like drops of ink in water, swirling and solidifying.

"It didn't work! It always works!" the small girl sounded a mixture of hurt and frantic.

"Quiet! They'll hear us!" snarled the tough one, peering around.

"THEY already know where we are! We need to run, or we're gonna get caught!" snapped a lean boy who had dark brown hair and sharp grey eyes.

"The castle's not far, just the other side of the forest" piped up the girl.

"I'm not going to some magic castle that the voices told you to find!" argued the first boy. "Better we stand and fight."

"We CANT! Ellie's injured, and…"

He never finished his sentence, diving to the ground as a spear sailed over his head.

Barking and growls were heard and a pack of telekhines emerged from eddies of black smoke.

The large boy crouched, holding a machete, while the smaller girl ducked and seized the fallen spear. The three backed up, the second boy holding a pitifully small knife in one hand, and a heavy-looking pack slung over the opposite shoulder. Three of his fingers on one hand were missing.

"Right, Brutus, when we make the tree line, they won't be able to outflank us. We can run, but I need you machete." The leaner boy ordered tersely.

Brutus grunted. The two exchanged weapons. The tiny blade suddenly looked a lot more dangerous.

The tiny girl called Ellie was clutching the spear as if her life depended on it, her eyes wide and frightened.

The telekhines advanced; some moved to come from the side, but were quickly blocked. The three continued backing up.

"DUCK!" The lean boy swung his arm up, hacking through a branch, causing another branch that had been caught to fly forward, hitting the first dog-creature to spring in the muzzle.

The three were already sprinting away. At some point the boys had exchanged blades again, as Brutus swung the wicked machete like something possessed, guarding his friends' backs.

"Almost there!" cried Ellie, as the group thundered through the underbrush.

"YES!" the telekhines hit an invisible wall and bounced off. They paced the frontier, yelping as their snouts accidently hit the sudden boundary.

The preteens continued on, before gradually slowing to a halt. Ellie closed her eyes and sighed, her frame sagging with relief. A shimmering caduceus appeared above her head. She saw it and grinned, her eyes dancing with mischief.

Her companions looked at it, astonished, before looking up to see if they had their own signs. A set of scales appeared above the unnamed boy, but Brutus didn't have a holographic sign. Instead, his machete had changed into a celestial bronze sword. From the way he was testing it, it appeared to be perfectly balanced for him.

There was a crackling of dead leaves and the thump of approaching feet, causing the three tired demigods to tense.

Percy Jackson stumbled into the clearing, brushing aside the brambles that were caught on his shirt. He obviously relaxed when he saw no monsters, and the sword in his hand disappeared. Nico smirked inwardly as he saw him slip a pen in his back pocket. The Son of Poseidon grinned, despite the weapons shoved in his face.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood's outreach programme!"

The small knife and spear lowered slightly, the bronze sword did not.

"You mean; this isn't actually Camp Half-Blood?" Ellie asked, sounding disappointed.

"Nah, that's in the States. There are only a few of us here, for a 'well-deserved vacation' and 'some needed R&R'." There was a pause and the three new demigods exchanged glances. "You called?" Percy asked finally.

Ellie's face split into a smile.

"Told you I was gonna call for help" she told the two boys.

The vision faded.

"Oh, I can't believe it, of course!" Morgana exclaimed, after the shock of what they'd seen had worn off.

"What?" asked Nico, irritated.

"I forgot to add a catalyst to my potion! No wonder it never worked properly. The iris message must have caused the belladonna to react!"

"So, that really happened? But why did the IM come to us?"

"Oh, it could have been nearby; it wouldn't need to come to us, specifically. But yes it did happen... though I don't know how Percy going to explain their sudden appearance…"

"With the Mist of course." Nico replied, nonplussed.

"But it doesn't seem to affect the wizards like it does mortals, what if …"

"From what I could tell at Hogwarts, the Mist won't 'passively' alter their perceptions of monsters and stuff like that, but when I really want the Mist to cover up something, it will. One classmate figured out the truth, but I guess I left too many hints that I was different and he was too observant."

"You seem to have hidden your age well." Morgana teased, before turning pensive.

Nico huffed. The age gap hadn't really been a problem before, but since his trip in time, he'd become even less patient with his fellow classmates. It turned out that a two year gap he could stomach, but a three year one was just too much.

_Why should I bother with them at all? They can't understand my problem … They don't have to worry if they're going to be kidnapped and tortured. They haven't wondered if they can survive long enough to be rescued. They worry about such childish, immature things. Why should I care that Malfoy pays more attention to insulting Potter than complementing Parkinson?_

"That… actually sums up what happens at Salem. I once turned all my classmates into ladybugs, but nobody could remember after about two days. Perhaps they can see around it if they really _try_ to. Or maybe if they realized the truth, the Mist wouldn't do anything – like when a demigod acknowledges who they are! … I'm going to look into this, should be just as interesting as my Potions experiment!"

Nico didn't correct her choice of adjective.

The two sat out the rest of the day alternately trying to persuade Madam Pomfrey to let them go, or find where she kept her patient files, to cross reference the birthdays with the mysterious thirty-three year old. Morgana had wanted to start testing the Mist immediately, but Nico was adamant that he be left out of it.

When they got released, it was dinner. Nico made his way to the Slytherin table, while Hecate's daughter made her way towards the new demigods. Percy was arguing with Annabeth, Ellie in between, her head going to and fro as if it were a match of tennis.

Sure enough, nobody noticed the three orange-clad interlopers, though Nico wasn't sure whether or not that was the Mist, or the fact that with twenty brightly coloured t-shirts already around, three more in the fold weren't so noticeable.

* * *

The day of the first task arrived chilled and misty. Percy, who had been on edge since the new arrivals, seemed oddly relaxed when he arrived for breakfast.

When Ellie came in, instead of joining the other demigods, she came over to Nico.

"Hi, are you Nico, the counsellor for Hades Cabin?"

Blaise, Tracy and Daphne raised their eyebrows.

Nico glared at the newest Hermes child.

"What's it to you, _cabin eleven_?" he replied, hoping the girl would take the hint.

"My brothers told me to steal your skull ring to prove myself as a true daughter of-" Nico intensified his glare, "-Hermes. Will you give it to me?"

The counsellor for cabin thirteen closed his eyes and counted to ten.

_Stupid little brat, no discretion, practically announced to the world what we are, does she have no sense? Why not just walk in with a banner over her head, it would have the same effect…_

Nico was about to venomously decline, when an idea struck him.

"I'll give you the ring, if you introduce your brothers to the Weasley twins." He pointed to the red-headed menaces, eagerly walking up and down the tables taking bets on the first task.

"Now?"

"The sooner, the better."

Ellie skipped off, her naïve and innocent mien preventing anyone from seeing the mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"What was all that about?" Tracy asked, bluntly.

"Tracy!" hissed Daphne

"You're all wondering too!" the other girl argued back.

The Son of Hades sighed.

_How to get out of this without telling them anything? Can't have them mixing, too much exposure and they'd start asking questions._

"At the Chiron camp, each family has a cabin and a talent. Cabin eleven is trickery, travels and thievery. I have a reputation of enacting vengeance when my things are messed with, so she asked me rather than attempting to steal it: that way she avoids any repercussions from me and proves herself to her siblings."

"You mean she's a common pickpocket." Daphne sniffed.

Nico glowered.

"Families with a cabin, especially the Ol-Original Twelve, are powerful. You don't want to go offending them. You might just find yourself on the wrong end of a curse."

"If the family can only thieve, that wouldn't be much of a curse."

"They're Greek, haven't you always insisted that Greek is Dark, like Latin is light? That boy, Jackson… His ancestor created the first Basilisk. And Chase, over there… she has-had severe arachnophobia-"

"Not so unusual." Nott commented, interrupting. Nico glared.

"No, it _isn't_ when her family created _the first_ acromantula, which then went rogue and almost wiped out her family line. And _my_ family created Dementors."

"Perhaps the Greeks shouldn't have meddled in dangerous experiments on magical animals." Blaise muttered, sounding disturbed.

Nico can a half-hearted smirk, his indignation had waned, and he was beginning to realise that he'd given too much away.

"Creatures are easier to avoid than curses. And monsters make excellent guards." He replied eventually. His mind wandered to the Great Prophecies, and prophecies in general, and wondered if they could be considered curses. A painful vision of Bianca, and he's firmly decided that Yes. Yes they could.

* * *

Nico glared at Rachel, who smiled sweetly and pulled him towards the stadium. It was the first time they'd interacted since the prophecy.

Nico was surprised when whispers had only followed the Oracle for a couple of days, before the entire incident was written off as a hoax. Most of the time it was mentioned, it was to imply Potter was the traitor, and jokingly wonder who he'd kill.

The Stolls and the Weasley twins had given Nico the most perfect distraction, on top of the first Task too, and it would go to waste… Put bluntly, the two sets of brothers had taken to each other like a House in an erupting volcano.

It hadn't taken long for the four of them to get to work. To celebrate their new found pranking partners, they'd initiated a prank war.

It was surprising, disturbing, and downright scary just how many pranks could be pulled off between breakfast and lunch.

Only the champions had been spared; possibly to avoid the serious repercussions that come from messing with an international tournament, but mainly so that the bets staked on the various outcomes wouldn't be voided.

_First hit was Snape; the Imperial March played every time he entered a room, causing his usually intimidating sweeping entrance to be ruined by giggling Muggleborns._

_Next all the camp T-shirts flashed in multicolour, favourites being vibrant fuchsia and florescent yellow, and all their weapons had changed into pillows._

_First year robes were transformed into animal skins of their house. The Rowena's House got feathers everywhere and resembled vultures more than ravens, while the Gryffindors looked very strange as a gaggle of miniature Hercules._

_Pulsating goo lined the hallways which, when touched, turned the person translucent like a ghost._

_Seventh years could only speak with a Texan drawl._

_At some point during the two hours, everyone's quills were swapped for their candy counterpart and everyone's wands started squeaking and turning into rubber animals._

Classes were chaos.

* * *

The son of Hades stopped resisting the stubborn Oracle after a while. It wasn't like he knew for sure where a Horcrux was. He only needed a few minutes to determine if the Ministry held a soul-piece. He ignored the wave of relief he felt when he decided not to shadow travel.

_He could travel whenever he liked, wherever he liked. He __wasn't__ scared._

Rachel led him towards the crowd of demigods at the entrance. Like security at an airport, they examined everyone, confiscating the odd dungbomb before directing the arriving spectators to their seats.

"Ideally, wands would be confiscated too, but apparently there are wards in place so the crowd can't interfere with the tasks." Rachel commented lightly.

As they sat down, Nico noticed that they were some of the first to arrive. Gradually, as the stadium filled and queue outside dwindled, the demigod security became more apparent. Like sports matches, they stood at regular intervals at the front and along the sides of the stands.

The son of Hades had to suppress a smile when he saw Percy obstinately stand in front of Draco Malfoy. The other had been loudly telling people his plans to mess with Potter during the task, and the Sea Prince was obviously trying to make a point.

"Where's Leo?" Nico asked, after spotting and recognizing most of the orange and purple stewards. Rachel shrugged, before asking the nearest steward.

"Oh, he'll be with the dragons. He can't get enough of them – must be a son of Vulcan thing."

Rachel giggled, and then held up a V shaped four fingered salute. The Roman steward stared at her, looking utterly bemused. Nico, who got the joke, rolled his eyes.

"Dragons?" A first year Ravenclaw demanded shrilly.

The Roman didn't confirm or deny this, but the whispers had already started. The news spread like a wave, until the entire stadium was buzzing. The arrival of the first dragon in the arena caused many screams and shouts of delight – but not the stupefied surprise or dumbfounded awe that the organizers had perhaps hoped for. A booming voice explained the task to the excited crowd: retrieve a golden egg from the dragon's nest. Some of the demigod security detail were looking a mixture of jealous and wary. Dragons guard their eggs with a fierce possessiveness; couple that with the fact the egg was _gold_, and that the creature was surrounded by noise and strange smells (including demigods, which every monster loves to snack on) – this task was proving to be a tempting challenge for any camper looking to prove their worth.

The crowd whooped as Cedric Diggory entered the arena. He was dwarfed by the dragon, which immediately locked eyes on the intruder. The thing roared and spread its wings, immediately making the arena seem small and confining. Nico couldn't see what the champion was doing, but heard gasps and cheers, before the dragon shifted and he saw a Labrador in the arena with the dragon. Cedric tried sneaking around the giant lizard, only for it to cotton on too soon and hit him with a well-aimed fireball, just as he grabbed his prize.

The scores were posted, but there was no way of knowing if the Hufflepuff had done a good job until the other champions had had their shot.

Fleur's dragon was a brilliant leaf green rather than the dull mottled grey of the previous breed. It appeared like she tried to charmspeak the animal, but it woke up and set her skirt on fire.

Krum downed his bright scarlet dragon within seconds, but trampled all over the real eggs when he lost his footing and tripped. The giant lizard was removed still unconscious, but the entire stadium heard when it was revived; its screeches, the sound of crashes and yells of the handlers left none in doubt that the creature had gone completely berserk.

The last dragon was by far the most vicious, with lethal looking spikes running down its spine and around its throat like a mix between a Tudor ruff and a stud collar. The way it brandished its tail reminded Nico forcibly of Dr Thorn, and the beast tugged on its chains with single minded determination.

The final champion's name was called and Potter walked into the arena.

* * *

**So that's the chapter!**

**What did you think? Ellie's throwaway comment will be investigated but by no means is the cat out of the bag! Nico's good at deception and dissimulation!**

**Clarisse will make a short appearance in the next chapter hopefully, but I'm not planning on expanding camper OCs. My reasoning is that Nico keeps himself to himself and only really interacts with a select few.**

**Please Review!**

**Swiss**

* * *

**rainbowchameleon, AngelicDarkness, blackclaw: Thank you, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**TheUltimateFangirlAndBookworm, ****A-FighterLady, **Finwitch1: Thank you!

**obsessivegirl73: I'm really glad to know you liked the prophecy, and I love your guesses on how it could be fulfilled. Explanations for some powers will come later, I have that pretty much already decided if not written. You'll kick yourself when Tracy works it out (if you haven't worked it out for yourself already). Thanks for taking the time to review, I hope you like the chapter!**

**ChrisDaughterOfApollo: Percy does trust Nico, and he cut off his sentence because he wants to get over whatever Nico's problem is (since Nico is distancing himself from the demigods), before making it obvious that they know each other. Plus Octavian hearing a Prophecy about a traitor, any speculation of who it would be in front of suspicious adults is a bad idea.**

**Star Fata: Thank you, I hope the chapter answered your questions, I am planning Hazel visiting, but she won't be staying for very long.**

**InfinityMidnight: Thank you! I'm trying to keep people in character as much as possible, but I have not plans with taking any Romance beyond hints. Hope the chapter lives up to expectations!**

**Crimson Gamma: Thanks! You've got my reasoning for my storyline down to a T! Its much more difficult than it seems, keeping the story from becoming cliché, and it only got harder when I decided to introduce more campers at Hogwarts, especially when it comes to demigod powers! Hope you like the chapter, Yell if you think I'm failing in my fight against the dreaded cliché!**

**XxShadowAlchemistxX: Thanks! Hope you didn't get into trouble, let me know what you think of the chapter!**

**TenebrisRosis: I'm not good at writing Romance, so I really have no plans for pairings beyond strong hints or something. Even then, I'm not seeing Luna x Nico as a possible romantic pairing unfortunately. ****Nico _could_ be bi, but personally I think he's gay, which came to light with his hero-crush on Percy (which definitely stemmed from Percy being kind and caring and...Percy-y). **Hope this isn't too much of a disappointment, but do let me know what you think of the chapter!

**Thorn D Cini: I have big plans for the Percy/Seven and Nico confrontation (most of which is already written, but needs a polish) Hope you like the chapter!**

**Omega2199: Hope the chapter lived up to expectations! Glad to know Rachel has been IC so far, and that the prophecy is good. Its hard to judge when you know how it'll be fulfilled!**

**blueice2449: I know I'm hideously bad at updating, I'm glad you stuck with it!**

**Emilie: Thanks! I think he is 16, as he'd basically 2 years older than his peers, though with time travel i guess he's 17... yeah, I don't really pay attention to how time matches up in the demigod world. hope you like the chapter!**

**fieldmouse: I'm very flattered, thank you! hope you like this chapter.**

**The Pianist's Touch: We're getting close, definitely! A secret known by three people can only be kept if two are dead, and there are waaay more than three demigods at Hogwarts!**

**Kerowyn6: More Rachel for you ;) hope you liked it!**

**Matt: Thank you! I totally agree, but its completely in Nico's character to not say anything. Telling Percy would make things awkward as Percy's head over heels for Annabeth. Plus it would 'solidify' his feelings, make them more real, and it would then become something he can't ignore.**

**leo749: Thank you, I hope the chapter lives up to expectations!**

**KTDLover: Thank you so much! There's not much Krum or Percy in this chapter, though for sure they will be back! I'm glad you like my style, I'm not good at writing Romance and most Romance stuff i read doesn't fit with my idea of Nico, so the story angle stems from that. ;) Hope you like the chapter!**

**cbarbs: Thank you, hope you like the chapter!**

**EclipseMirror: Oh, I hadn't noticed, I'll pay more attention to that! Thanks for your comment, I hope this chapter is more detailed for you!**

**HowlingRain: I did think long and hard before choosing. I didn't want the story to be about how the demigods are sooooo much better than wizards, or draw loads of attention to Nico (lets face it, the Slytherins would have slaughtered him in his bed if he'd been chosen for the tournament) Hope you like the chapter!  
**


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